


Screw Endgame

by julietophelia



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Let Veronica Lodge Develop a Sense of Self, Minor Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Minor Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, set throughout season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26070670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julietophelia/pseuds/julietophelia
Summary: Reggie was the kind of boy the bad girl Veronica would choose, and she wasn’t the bad Veronica anymore. Despite how good he made her feel, and how much she felt drawn to him, that night Archie came to her door and she saw that he finally, finally wanted her back, she pushed those feelings away. But not for long.Veronica loses her beacon of light.
Relationships: Veronica Lodge/Reggie Mantle
Kudos: 7





	Screw Endgame

Veronica was meant to be with Archie. She loved Archie. He was her shining beacon of light, her moral touchstone, her boy next door. No matter what anyone said about Daddy’s prisons, or what he’d done to the town, whatever nasty words people whispered about her—complicit, liar, privileged—if Archie Andrews loved her, she knew she must be a good person.

She couldn’t trust herself when she was with Reggie. Reggie was the kind of boy the bad girl Veronica would choose, and she wasn’t the bad Veronica anymore. Despite how good he made her feel, and how much she felt drawn to him, that night Archie came to her door and she saw that he finally, finally wanted her back, she pushed those feelings away. But not for long.

It started when Daddy got sick. No, as terrible as it sounds, when she forced herself to admit when it really started, it was not long after Archie’s father died. The thought filled her with shame. Not even bad Veronica had sunk so low.

Archie was so busy with the community center. She helped him raise funds to get started. Reggie pitched in, too. Reggie took back his job at the speakeasy, now with a paycheck. Once the center was up and running, she hardly saw Archie, while Reggie was there every day. It was hard to tell the difference from the ways things were before.

Keying Daddy’s car was dumb, but it did cheer her up. Not just picturing the look on Daddy’s face, but the fact that Reggie knew she was hurting and came to her with a dumb Reggie scheme, that he wanted to cheer her up.

Archie didn’t care about her rum business. Veronica knew how important his father’s company was to him, but she tuned out, as she always had, whenever she heard the words “construction” or “site.” She never got a chance to meet his long lost uncle before Archie told her he was lost once more. When she learned Daddy was sick, she told Archie, eventually, when he finally noticed she was acting strange, but she’d confessed to a concerned Reggie days before.

That was when the affair started. Archie left her on the dancefloor at La Bonne Nuit, just left her, so he could to make it to work at some ungodly hour the next morning. Veronica Lodge did not come second to construction. She hit the bar for another round. Reggie cut her off, and her slurred pleas did nothing to convince him.

He knew something was wrong, that this wasn't just normal party girl Veronica, and the truth spilled out of her. They kissed, not much of a kiss even, and he was the one to push her away. She saw desire in his eyes, but he told her kindly, “This never happened,” and advised her to sober up.

It was hard to let Reggie try to console her, unable to tell him that all of it was fake, Archie and Betty, Jughead’s death.

“I’m not trying to take advantage, or whatever,” he said upfront. “I’m really sorry.”

She hugged him. They lingered awkwardly for a moment. “Thank you, Reggie,” she said, and she didn’t have to fake it.

Her father collapsed, and Archie covered for him. She was seized with rage and panic. They screamed at each other like they never had before. Then she went to Reggie.

“I just can’t keep myself away from you,” he whispered before they fell into bed.

Guilt sunk in after, and with it came clarity. Of course Archie was afraid of Daddy. Why should he lift a finger to help the man who’d tried to kill him more than once? The fact that he even told her at all showed how much he loved her. Whatever truces they made, however Daddy changed, her father and Archie would never truly be at peace.

When she found out Archie kissed Betty, for real this time, she didn’t rage and storm like she’d pretended. Not even when Archie confessed, in the middle of prom, that it had meant something, he did feel something for Betty. She knew she had no right. Instead, she found Reggie, going stag with Monroe, and sobbed against his chest.

“I’m gonna kill Andrews.” They sat together on Bella’s hood.

“No, don’t. If anything, you should thank him.” She sniffled. “Why do you put up with me, Reggie? I’ve been terrible to you.”

He shrugged. “I’m a real jerk sometimes, too.”

“That doesn’t mean you deserve to be treated like a backup option.”

“I’m saying, like, I get it. Everyone fucks up, even Andrews. Especially Andrews. I just, I feel like we fit, you know?”

“Am I a bad person, Reggie?”

“I’m the last person you should ask. But for what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty great.”

She’d committed felonies with Reggie. But then, she’d committed felonies with Archie, too. She’d led Archie into her father’s twisted web, despite her best efforts to protect him. No, Archie had led Archie.

Archie Andrews didn’t love her anymore, and Reggie was no benchmark to measure her virtue by. She supposed she’d just have to decide for herself.


End file.
